HANOVERIAN

William Shenstone (1714-1763) of the Leasowes, poet and landscape gardener

Publication details:

[Pembroke College, Oxford.] 1734.

£200.00

On one side of what is clearly a fly-leaf removed from a book. In fair condition, aged and worn, skilfully placed in a windowpane mount of cream paper, to which a white stub still adheres. Written in a small hand at the head of the recto: 'Guillaume Shenstone | du College de Pembroke | en Oxford. | 1734.'

4pp., 4to. Bifolium. Signed at end: 'Edward Seymour | Jesus Coll. | March. 1815.' In fair condition, lightly aged. Holograph manuscript of the poem 'Wallace', in 78 lines, Iambic pentameters. Preceded by the following note: 'Lines written for the Chancellor's medal for English Poetry, in the University of Cambridge. In consequence of illness they were never completed.' Apparently unpublished.

William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806), Tory Prime Minister who distinguished himself during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars [Dr Hugh Leycester (1748-1836) of Lincoln's Inn]

Publication details:

May 1790

£165.00

7 x 21 cm panel from the front of an envelope, carrying the frank in Pitt's autograph, with 5.5 x 3 cm rectangle extending vertically from the bottom, with Pitt's seal in red wax adhering at the foot. Laid down on a leaf from an album. In fair condition, lightly aged, with the seal somewhat cracked and with a few small fragments having chipped away. The frank, written in a bold hand, reads: 'May 1790 | Dr. Leycester | Serles Stair Case | Lincolns Inn'. The signature is written in the customary fashion, between two lines at bottom left: 'W Pitt'.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of stub to inner margin. Reads: 'Captain Basil Hall R.N. presents his Compliments to Mr Dinwiddie, & if he can spare him a Ticket for the Caledonian Church on Sunday next the 4th. July, Captn. Hall will feel particularly obliged to Mr Dinwiddie. | 14 Conduit Street | Wednesday | Captn. Hall will be well contented with a Standing Ticket, should there be the slightest difficulty about another.'

Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), President of the Royal Academy and distinguished portrait painter

Publication details:

Without place or date. (English, nineteenth century.)

£500.00

ONE: Manuscript pedigree. On one side of a 49 x 38 cm piece of thick laid paper, with no watermark. Folded three times. Discoloured and with light damp staining. The greater part of the pedigree is written in ink in a loose hand, and traces the descent of Sir Thomas Lawrence's mother Lucy (née Read) to William the Conqueror.

John Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland (1696-1779), patron of the arts and Whig politician

Publication details:

[His Majesty's Receipt of Exchequer, London.] July 1742.

£56.00

Printed and in manuscript on both sides of a ragged 19 x 19.5 cm piece of paper, extracted from an Exchequer document (the first page is headed in manuscript 'Bk | (608)'. Aged and ragged. The recto, printed and completed in manuscript explains that the document relates to the 'Repayment of Loan on the Duties on Salt, granted for the Service of the year 1741, and further continued for Seven Years from the 25th Day of March 1746'.

On the business letterhead of Pickersgill Palliser, Post Office, High Harrogate [Yorkshire]. January 1839.

£35.00

For information on Palliser, see his obituary in the Harrogate Herald, 8 August 1883. 1p., landscape 12mo. A nicely-printed period letterhead: 'To PICKERSGILL PALLISER, Dr. | PRINTER & PUBLISHER | OF | The Harrogate Advertiser and Weekly List of Visitors. | Bookwork, Circulars, Cards, Posting and Hand-bills, and every other description of Letter-Press Printing, executed neatly, on reasonable Terms. | Books bound in plain, neat, or elegant Bindings, in the best style of Workmanship. | Orders for Advertisements and for Town or Country Newspapers duly executed.

Both documents with docket title stating that the case is to be heard at the bar of the House of Lords, 4 March 1727. [ESTC tentatively dates the items to 1728.]

£420.00

The background to the two documents is given in Guidott's entry in the History of Parliament, which states that his uncle Anthony was 'for many years a lawyer to the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough and described the latter in his will as “my particular good friend”. Guidott benefited from the connexion, succeeding his uncle as lawyer to the Marlboroughs. […] He proved a disappointment to the Duchess of Marlborough, however, as by 1711 he had begun the embezzlement of funds from the Marlborough estates for which he was sued in 1725.

1p., 8vo. Bifolium addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'Messrs: Nichols & son, | No. 26, | Parliament Street, | Westminster.' (Delivered by hand, with word 'Wait.' at bottom left of address.) In fair condition, lightly aged. Written in a bold hand, the letter reads: 'Gentlemen, | I lately sent you by post a careful review of Baron D'Ordre's “Exiles of Parga,” & offered to correct a proof for you. Have you any intention to print the same?

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair lightly aged and worn, with slight damage to second leaf caused by the breaking open of the wafer, and slight wear at the foot. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'T. C. Croker Esqre 31 Bedford Street | Covent Garden'. 2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight damage to second leaf caused by the breaking open of the wafer, and wear at the foot. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'T. C. Croker Esqre 31 Bedford Street | Covent Garden'.

Lord Frederick Campbell (1729-1816), Scottish nobleman and politician, Lord Clerk Register of Scotland, and successively Member of Parliament for Glasgow Burghs and Argyllshire

Publication details:

'Arlington Street - Saturday' [ 1806 ].

£40.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and creased paper, with strip of paper from mount adhering to reverse. The leaf has been folded in two, with 'Mr: Heath' written by Campbell on one part, beneath which, in another hand are the recipient's initials 'J. H.' and the date 1819. Above this, in pencil, in a third hand: 'Ld. Fredk Campbell still living at the age of near 90'.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged. Docketed on reverse of second leaf 'Mr Coke of Holkham'. 33 lines of text. Coke's handwriting is atrocious. Phrases which can be made out are: '[...] to comply with my tenants wishes [...] to supply them with good [...] I should recommend [....] this is the best advice I can give you. | From the Member for Oxfordshire, [...] but he has it in such abundance [...]'.

1p., 4to. Bifolium. Addressed with postmarks, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Mr. Simpson, | Clothiere, | St. Martin's Lane | London.' In fair condition, on aged paper. Docketted with Harcourt's dates. The letter reads: 'Sir, | Captain Sir Murray Maxwell having signified his intention of offering himself as a Candidate for Westminster at the ensuing Election; I shall be much obliged to you if you will give him Your Vote upon that occasion.' In the 1818 general election Maxwell (1775-1831) was defeated by less than 400 votes, losing to Sir Samuel Romilly and Sir Francis Burdett.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Tipped in onto paper mount. Reads: 'Mr Gally Knight requests Mr Radley to let him have a Room for a few Hours on Monday Morning - He & Mrs Knight purpose to be at Liverpool about twelve oclock & will go to Manchester by the 1/2 p 2 Train. - They wish to have some Luncheon between one & two oclock.' Scott's Ivanhoe is set near to Firbeck Hall, and Knight may have been his source of local information.

For information on the two men, see their entries in the Oxford DNB. The letter is evidently written in response to an invitation to contribute to a new religious periodical which De Coetlogon is contemplating editing (and regarding which the ODNB sheds no light). 3pp., 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed, with Cambridge postmark, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Rev Mr De Coetlogon | Lower Grosvenor Place | Westminster'.

Admiral Rodney [ George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney ] (1718-1792), British naval officer, prominent in the American War of Independence, and victor over the French in 1782 at the Battle of the Sa

Publication details:

Office of Ordnance, Kingston, Jamaica. 30 June 1782.

£350.00

A printed form, completed in manuscript, on one side of an 8vo landscape leaf of thin laid paper. In fair condition: the signature is good and firm at one side of the page, the other side having a vertical cut – through the signatures of Robert Benton and 'G: C.' – which has been repaired on the reverse with gummed paper.

The recipient of the letter, the 5th Earl of Chesterfield, was Postmaster General between 1790 and 1798. The 'Mr. Palmer' mentioned in the text is John Palmer (1742-1818), MP for Bath, who was Comptroller General of the Post Office between 1786 and 1792. Harraden appears to have been regarded by his superiors as a whistle-blower and trouble-maker.

2pp., 4to. In poor condition, on brittle, aged paper, with closed tears and chipping to extremities causing slight loss to some words of text; repaired long since with archival tape. 2pp., 4to. Addressed to his 'Dear Brother', i.e. Sir William Wentworth of Bretton.

On both sides of a piece of vellum roughly 21 x 15.5 cm. An unusual survival, aged and discoloured in the fashion customary with vellum. On the front is a design of an armorial shield encircled in draperies, in ink and colours (blue, red, yellow), beneath which are the words 'Burgess Ticket | for | Captain Kennedy 1 Regt Royal Lanarkshire Local Militia | 1813'.

2pp., 4to. Closely written, with forty-three lines of text, in a somewhat difficult hand. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper with closed tear and creasing at head of leaf. The letter is written to a relation, after Flood has been shown a letter by 'yr Cousin, L[ad]y Flood', in which the recipient complains of having been 'injur'd or slandered'. It is Flood's intention in the letter to show that 'the business &c has been wholly misunderstood'. He also states that 'the view of imploying you proceeded from friendship strengthened by connexion'.

For information on Nathaniel Pigott (so spelt), see his entry in the Oxford DNB. Pigott was a friend and adviser of Alexander Pope, who composed the inscription on his memorial tablet. 3pp., folio. Bifolium, on watermarked laid paper, folded into the customary packet, with 'Mr. Hunsdon's Case' written lengthwise on the blank reverse of the second leaf. Sixty-lines of neatly and closely written text. The first page is headed 'The Case of Mr. Thomas Hunsdon', and the first part of the document sets this out, in sections dated 23 June 1716, 14 February 1717, 31 October 1719, July 1723, and 1727.

Full title, with motto: 'Two Letters to the Right Honourable the Earl of Sheffield; in which His Lordship's Report to the Meeting at Lewes Wool-Fair, and the Proceedings at a recent Meeting of Wool-Growers, at the Free Masons' Tavern, are examined; and the True State of the Wool-Question attempted to be shewn. | By J. B. S. | Veritas Nihil Veretur Nisi Abscondi.' A scarce item: no copies at the British Library or other deposit libraries and the only copies on COPAC or OCLC WorldCat at Edinburgh University and Senate House. [4] + 76pp., 8vo. Disbound, and with first leaf (half-title) loose.

1p., 8vo. In fair condition, on aged paper with small spike hole at head. He thanks the unnamed recipient for his 'obliging letter' and 'ingenious Catalogue', and 'would have acknowledged the receipt sooner' had he not been waiting for 'an opportunity of conveying the same free of expence'. The recipient is 'welcome' to the copy of 'Stewarts Athens' at his 'own price' of two guineas. Burnham has 'adjusted Mr. Hayes's Account with the balance of onepound [sic] ffifteenshillings [sic]', and begs 'to thank that Gentleman for the same'.

The case concerns a disagreement between 'Mr. Carter' and 'Mr Fisher', the latter having – with his 'Ancestors' – 'enjoyed this Estate for 70 Years past without any Interruption whatsoever'. The main body of the text is in the hand of Way or an employee, with Glynn's autograph opinion on two questions extending to nine lines (four lines for 'Q[uery]. 1st', and five lines for 'Q[uery] 2d'). The first page is headed 'Case'. Following a lengthy description of a case history of '13th. March 33d. Henry 8th.' are the two questions ('Q. 1st', and 'Q 2d').

2pp., 4to. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged. Written in a difficult hand. Docketed on reverse of second leaf in a neat hand, explaining the context: 'Genl Thomas Graham | Stratton Street | 31 Janry 1803 | wrote him first febry that Peers could not be Commssrs of Supply | 1803 | 3 Febry wrote L[or]d Keith.' Graham's letter reads: 'There is the list – except two names wch. L[or]d Keith wishes to have inserted & the mem[orandu]m. Of wch. I have mislaid – one is the Baillie of Kinkardine [sic] for the time being I think – but it wd.

William Gilpin (1724-1804), writer on art and headmaster of Cheam School, Surrey [[ Thomas Cadell and William Davies, London booksellers ]

Publication details:

Vicar's Hill [ Lymington, Hampshire ]. 29 January 1803.

£220.00

On a slip of paper, with two embossed tax stamps. Worn, aged and damp stains. Entirely in Gilpin's autograph, and reading: 'To Messrs. Cadell, Davies booksellers in ye Strand London | Please to pay to Mrs. Mary , or her order five days after date one hundred pds for | Yr. humble Servt. | Will: Gilpin | 100 £. -.' Endorsed on the reverse, with the signature of the recipient of the money.?>

1p., 4to. Bifolium. Addressed, with two postmarks, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Mr Shepherd, Sollictor [sic] | Boswell court | near Lincolns inn | London.' In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. The letter reads: 'Sir | I am obliged to Mr Middleton for recommending a Gentleman of yr worth & abilities; but yesterday the matter respecting Major Hughes is transferred to other hands for which I am thankful as it will be equally well pursued. I am Sir | Yr obedt Servt | Tho. Pennant. | Downing Decr 9th 1781 | I shall pay chearfully [sic] all past Charges'.

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly-aged, with slight damage on removal from album. Addressed to 'Revd. Mr. Gilpin | Cheam'. (In 1777, on becoming vicar of Boldre in the New Forest, Gilpin handed over the headmastership of Cheam School to his second son William Gilpin the younger (1757-1848).) Written with a freshness reflecting 'the particular interest' Gilpin paid to 'the theory and practice of epistolary writing', noted by Alain Kerhervé in his edition of Gilpin's letters to his grandson ('William writes to William', 2014).

On 10 x 11.5 cm piece of paper, cut down from a longer letter. Aged and worn, with traces of glue and grey paper mount adhering to the reverse, which is addressed by Elmes to Howard at the Royal Academy. Reads: 'I send with this one drawing for Exhibition with my name at the back of which the following is the description | "Design for a National Museum comprised in a space of two Acres | H. Lonsdale Hunter | 11 Park Street | Westminster'. Note: Perhaps he was quoting for St George's Hall(?).

4pp., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. An excellent letter on an unusual subject, written in forthright style. The author – who like the recipient is a member of the local mercantile community – gets down to business immediately: 'Sir | The late great demand for Bottles in England was the effect of Mr Pits [sic] commercial Treaty with France.